A R T I S T S
Kan-Zan-Loc
Keita Sagaki
Takahide Komatsu
Toshio Iezumi
Yoichiro Nishimura
Yosuke Miyao
Yoko Togashi
Yasuhide Kunimoto
Yoshi47
Yuki Nara
Pang Yongjie
Lampo Leong
Xu Songbo
Hotaru Visual Guerrilla
Chae Sungpil
Lee Youngha
Shin Hanchul
Oh Young
Kim In Tae
Fitz Herrera
Daniel Dela Cruz
Featured artwork:
"Life" by Yoichiro Nishimura
Artist Spotlight: Chae Sungpil
Chae Sungpil (b. 1972), a Paris-based artist, has made a name for himself in the contemporary art world with his distinctive approach to painting. His unique "soil pigment" palette, gathered from his travels across the globe, is filtered, diluted with water, and combined with glue. This results in abstract and textural surfaces on the canvas, reminiscent of the earth's skin. To create these earth pigments, he prepares a special mixture on mulberry paper, which is then blended with Chinese ink and powdered silver and gold dust. This organic mixture is applied to the canvas with a large brush, which interacts with the "soil" as the angle of the canvas is slightly adjusted. His philosophy of continual exploration and representation of the beauty of oriental spaces sets him apart, as does his focus on cultural and historical contexts and Korean heritage.
Chae Sungpil was raised on a small, idyllic island in Korea where nature was abundant and childhood was carefree. He was introduced to the arts of poetry and calligraphy by his grandfather. Growing up as the youngest of eight siblings, he experienced a peaceful upbringing, thanks to his mother's prayers and offerings of water to invoke peace and harmony in their family. As a young adult, Chae pursued higher education in Fine Arts in Seoul. The bustling city provided a stark contrast to his rural roots and led him to develop a sense of solitude and introspection. He realized the importance of maintaining a connection with nature, which remains a guiding principle in his life to this day.
Chae's work has garnered international recognition, his work collected by museums including National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Korea), Seoul Museum of Art (Korea), Youngeun Museum of Contemporary Art (Korea), Cernuschi Museum (France), and appear in the collections of Government Complex Sejong (Korea), Hôtel de Ville de Paris (France), Shinhan Bank (Korea), BNP Bank (France), Majestic Hotel (France), Citroen (France), KaKao Daum (Korea), and Fnac (France).
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Kan-Zan-Loc
Kan-Zan-Loc's artistic journey began over three decades ago when he was awarded a scholarship to study at The Art Students League of New York, the alma mater of greats like Georgia O'Keefe and Jackson Pollock. Since then, he has dedicated his career to keeping traditional Japanese painting alive through his contemporary works. With experimentation and perseverance, Kan-Zan has created his own paint pigment based on Ganryo, a traditional Japanese paint made from colored rock powder and shellfish powder dyed with indigo-plant-blue. His original line abstract paintings are a unique embodiment of Japanese painting elements, reimagined for contemporary art. Inspired by the Rinpa school, KanZan's new works take inspiration from celebrated Rinpa works including the Wind and Thunder Gods at Kennin-ji temple in Kyoto. KanZan's new pieces are a fresh take on traditional Japanese painting and and are now infused with lapis lazuli, malachite, and azurite, evoking a sense of tranquility and wonder that transports you to another time and place.
Shin Hanchul
Shin Hanchul's (b. 1958) art focuses on spherical shapes, utilizing them in various forms and arrangements. The artwork convey the meanings of birth, prosperity, coexistence, and new life. The entities are arranged in a straight line, each at a different orientation, forming a three-dimensional organism with self-replicating energy that undergoes division and diffusion. Viewers experience a shift in perspective as they admire the interesting projections created by the spheres. The mirrored surfaces create a new scene by reflecting reality and its surroundings, producing an infinite number of spheres through repeated projections at various contact points. Like a molecular structure, the numerous spheres form countless connections, drawing in everything, including the spectators. Defying gravity, Shin’s artwork resemble soap bubbles or foam, that seem to be drifting or floating in the air, or seemingly suspended from thin poles. This creates the illusion that the sculptures lack mass.
His sculptures however, typically weigh around 31 pounds (14 kilograms) and are made of stainless steel, with a hollow interior and balanced on a slender rod. The sphere clusters come in a variety of colors, with some reminiscent of grapes in blue and others shining like red Christmas ornaments, whereas the artist's pale gray and dark red foam creations have a more ominous feel to them. Despite their ominous appearance, Shin's intention is to symbolize the different communities within Korean society and promote unity and harmony among them.
Born in Yesan, Chungnam, Shin Hanchul received his education in sculpture, earning a degree from the Department of Sculpture and later a graduate degree from the Graduate School of Fine Arts at Seoul National University. Shin has held numerous solo exhibitions in galleries such as Hyundai and the Kumho Museum of Art. In 2003, Shin Hanchul was chosen for a commission on the Korean War Symbolic Sculpture Project at the War Memorial of Korea. His works can be found in numerous museums and institutions including the Seoul Museum of Art (Korea), Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art Art (Korea), National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Art Bank (Korea), Jeil Pharm (Korea), Seongnam Sujin Park (Korea), Incheon Grand Park Sculpture Park (Korea), and Asan Medical Center (Korea).
Toshio Iezumi
Toshio Iezumi (b. 1954) is a world-renowned glass sculptor recognized for developing a unique technique for shaping glass by laminating sheets of glass into a bloc, then carving and polishing it with stone carving tools. Influenced by ancient Chinese bronzes as well as the works of Brâncuşi and Donald Judd, Iezumi’s technique of direct curving and dealing with light reflection and refraction seeks to illustrate volume and depth as it occurs in the glass.
lezumi employs angle grinder as a tool for shaping glass. He is a master of this technique which requires extensive experimentation in grinding and polishing the glass surface and the use of heat reflective glass, which traces the concavities and convexities that spread like ripples of water.
The artist’s works are collected by notable museums such as the Museum of Art and Design in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Real Fabrica de Cristales la Granja, and Tokyo’s National Museum of Modern Art. Iezumi’s works have been published in over ten books, included in Dan Klein’s “Artist in Glass”, David Whitehouse’s “The Corning Museum of Glass: A Decade of Glass Collecting, and Martina Margetts’ “International Crafts”.
Japan is known for its tradition of artistry and craftsmanship, found in items like washi paper, kimono and ceramics. Artisans undergo lengthy apprenticeships to hone their craft. Like the artisan’s before him, Iezumi began his relationship with glass when he enrolled in Tokyo Glass Art Institute in 1983. Since then he has been experimenting with sheets of glass, between 2mm and 2cm thick, experiment and perfecting his craft and technique to create the beautifully organic sculptures that he is known for.
“When shape and texture are well balanced, an ordinary object becomes extraordinary - an artwork.”
Masaki Okuten
Meet Masaki Okuten (b. 1985), a talented artist from Kanagawa, Japan currently living and working in Tokyo. His abstract works are inspired by a trip he took to New York 6 years ago. While touring galleries, he noticed that posters in the subway were sometimes vandalized and parts were peeled off. The visual and deliberate distortion of posters were often humorous, something he doesn't see much of in his hometown. This experience led him to create the concept of an uneven canvas, which also embodies the principles of the Wabi-Sabi philosophy. Another element in Okuten's works are the doodles of his students. As a teacher, he invites kids to draw from their imaginations and feels that their honesty is pure. After layers of paint and with the application of mask, white lines are revealed, representing the children's pure hearts and sincerity.
For the first time in Hong Kong, Okuten is excited to present works from his Putona series. Putona is an old English word derived from "putian" which means push, and its etymology carries the meaning of "fixing in place". In his painting process, Okuten uses both oil and acrylic paints and controls their properties, applying them in layers. By incorporating shaped canvases into the composition of his paintings, Okuten's works give the viewer a sense of physical presence, rather than just being a traditional painting hanging on a wall. He describes his work as a "figurative process of putting paint in place." The thick layers of paint, the thin and fine layers, and the underlying base layer, which reappears with the aid of masking tape, are intended to allow the viewer to reconsider the order in which the artist has created the work and relive the layered structure.
Yoshi47
Born in Gifu prefecture, Japan pop and street artist Yoshi47 (b. 1981) began experimenting with graffiti art in Japan before moving to California, USA in 2001 to pursue an art career. He spent four years in the Bay area doing live painting and participating in both solo exhibitions and art events. While living in San Francisco, he discovered a small group of avid bicyclists and became a bike messenger. It was through his experience as a courier that he found his essence of life and the conceptual basis for his art to become a full-fledged street artist.
Yoshi47 paints humorous monster characters inspired by the Japanese hit TV series ‘The Laughing Salesman’ by Fujiko A. Fujio, which tells the story of a salesman named Moguro Fukuzo, whose job is to help people fill gaps in their souls (mostly greed). In reality, he often ruins the lives of his clients if they do not follow his strict instructions or if they betray his trust. The colourful, animated monsters that Yoshi47 draws, is his representation of the main character. The monsters are laughing at us by looking down at human beings, but at the same time, these monsters are the mirror of who we really are. Dark colors in Yoshi47’s mixed media paintings represent the gaps in human souls, while vibrant brighter colors represent hope for human beings. It’s like a Ying Yang balance in a painting.
When not painting murals, Yoshi47 paints his playful images of monsters using Aerosol paint, air brush, acrylics, and water color on paper, canvas or wood panels.
Yoshi47 currently lives and works in Aichi Prefecture, Japan where he can trail bike ride, surf, and snowboard. He is involved in art curating, illustration, collaborative projects, mural painting, and continues to exhibit his artwork overseas, in countries such as America, France, Australia, China, Mexico, Taiwan, and Sweden
Keita Sagaki
Keita Sagaki (b.1984 in Ishikawa, Japan). At a young age, Sagaki was exposed to a rich culture of Buddhism and the vivid recollection of it was when his father took him to a Buddhist Temple known as Toga Meiso no Sato (Contemplative Village) where some magnificent and monumental Mandala paintings are on display. The extremely elaborate depictions, the rich psychedelic colors, the fractal design with countless Buddhas of various sizes arranged within inspired my fascination to draw a two dimensional, non-linearity composition painting similar to Mandala. The obsessional visual impact of Mandala has become the core of his works.
The extensive use and manipulation of Japanese anime or manga characters defines his drawings. The subtle application of infinite strokes deconstructing and reconstructing the manga characters, some originating from famous Japanese anime, rendering a new perspective that shapes the body of works, a discipline learned over the years
Hotaru Visual Guerrilla
Hotaru Visual Guerrilla is an independent creative studio founded by Ander Ugartemendia and Jone Vizcaino. Their work focuses on the creation of audiovisual experiences with a strong emphasis on future aesthetics and experimentation. Hotaru Visual Guerrilla likes exploring the intersection between science, nature, and technology, always looking for the perfect combination of organic and digital elements inviting the viewers to visualize alternative realities. They redefine complex concepts using video and sound as their main tools to explore new approaches to non-linear narratives. Hotaru Visual Guerrilla’s work has been awarded several times and shown internationally in countries such as China, UAE, the USA, Japan, Germany, UK, and the Czech Republic.
“Basalore” means wildflower in the Basque language. Basalore is a three-piece series of digital art, part of Hotaru Visual Guerrilla’s exploration of imaginary of future nature.
This series of digital art executed as 30 sec loop animation, is a visual metaphor that reimagines the flora of the future questioning how nature will evolve to adapt and coexist with the technological developments of the future.
"Basalore III"
Unique 30 sec Animation Loop, 1080 x 1920px
Limited Edition Print of 8 is available for each series
Print medium: ChromaLuxe Coated Aluminum Photo Panel Print
Print Dimension: 60 x 80 cm